


contraband skillet

by yookihyunnieX



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, basically changkyun unintentionally almost burns down a whole damn building jfc, kihyun is Over It, platonic changki, then maybe a little soft changki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-26 18:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13863876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yookihyunnieX/pseuds/yookihyunnieX
Summary: “Taking off the plastic is, like, the very first thing you do when you’re making a grilled cheese!”Kihyun was exasperated. This was potentially worse than an Easy-Bake Oven mix-up on the list of People Being Idiots And Starting Fires. The alarms in the building shut off, but the ones in Kihyun’s head were still blaring loud and clear.“Changkyun, do you realize how horribly wrong that could’ve gone? You didn’t take off the plastic and you were using a contraband electric skillet! That’s, like, steps one and two of burning down the building, so if that’s your goal, next time keep the skillet plugged in. You might actually burn the place to the ground!"





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some buddies and I decided to all do a prompt for "it's 3am in the middle of winter and you're the reason the fire alarm is going off" and we all chose different MX duos and, well, I obviously had to do changki bc otherwise who even am I as a person?
> 
> Anyway, I didn't edit this and I'm just praying it's decent so! enjoy~

Kihyun swore that if he hadn’t clutched his hand to his chest when he bolted up in bed, his heart would have burst to smithereens. He could feel his heart pounding at an alarming rate, having been suddenly interrupted from his sleep by a fire alarm blaring through his room. His poor ears begged for mercy and he scrambled out of bed, trying to quickly untangle himself from his blankets, while covering his ears at the same time. He grabbed his phone off the bedside table, ripping it from the charger, and ran to exit his room.

As Kihyun entered the shared area with their living room and mini kitchen, Minhyuk, his roommate, was emerging from his own bedroom and shoving his arms in a jacket.

“What the hell is happening? Is it a real fire?” Minhyuk shouted over the insisting alarm.

“I’m not really wanting to take that chance,” Kihyun yelled back, moving to the door.

The two roommates rushed down the staircase of their residence hall to join the other students out in the parking lot, and Kihyun began listening for any details about what had triggered the alarm. They rarely had unexpected drills. Their Hall Director quite frankly didn’t have his shit together, and usually relied on the Residence Advisors to conduct emergency evacuations. Among the murmurs of sleepy and irritated students, Kihyun located their RA and tugged on Minhyuk’s sleeve, indicating to him Hoseok’s location. They weaved through the cluster of students to reach him and report that they had exited the building.

“Oh, good,” Hoseok smiled, doing his best to hide what was probably pure worry coursing through him. “I’m glad you’re out here. Well, not glad you’re out here. It’s freezing. But I’m glad you’re not in there,” he said, using his head to point back to their residence hall. He scribbled something in the binder he carried and looked back up to Kihyun and Minhyuk. “You’re the last room in my hall. Everyone is down here and safe.”

“So, then it _is_ a real fire? Not just a drill?” Minhyuk asked, quickly moving to zip up his jacket. Kihyun shivered and internally cursed himself for not remembering to grab a jacket for himself. It was the middle of winter and he was wearing the tshirt he slept in, pajama pants, and socks. Just socks. He didn’t even think to grab his shoes. He clutched his phone and crossed his arms in front of his chest, hoping he could keep in some of his body heat. 

No jacket. No shoes. But gosh, thank goodness for his phone. His instinctive reaction to an emergency situation was elementary and he chastised himself for it.

“Well, you guys are on the other end of the hallway, so you may not have smelled it in that stairwell, but when I came down the other set of stairs, I could smell something burning.” Hoseok sighed and continued, “My bet is that one of the underclassmen that doesn’t have a kitchen like you guys tried using an electric skillet to cook something and it went wrong.”

Kihyun swore he felt his eyes roll back into the furthest part of his skull. Leave it to an amature kid trying to make something with his sketchy plug-in skillet and have it go horribly wrong, making everyone evacuate into the frigid winter air in the middle of the night. Not to mention that Kihyun had a huge exam for his 8 o’clock class that he had surprisingly felt confident enough for to try to get a decent amount of sleep. Of fucking course.

“Do you know who it is?” Kihyun tried to bite back his frustration, but clearly did a poor job of hiding it, if Minhyuk’s expression was any indication.

“Not sure,” Hoseok shook his head, “but the freshmen are clustered over there with Hyunwoo.”

Kihyun snapped his head to follow Hoseok’s point and immediately began storming over to their group. He didn’t really have a plan. He just knew he felt like a suburban mom whose child had been excluded from the summer bash and was ready to raise hell. 

“Which one of you idiots decided now was a good time to whip out your Easy-Bake Oven?” he commanded. Kihyun had been freezing, but at this point he felt like he was on fire, blood boiling.

The group of freshmen became silent, but their actions spoke for them as their heads slowly turned to face one person. The firetrucks had arrived and their lights were casting red and blue flashes on the kid’s face. It made him look slightly scared, but probably made Kihyun look terrifying, like he was ready to murder a man, as he marched up to him. Good.

He now stood inches from the freshman and clenched his fists as he prepared to chastise him.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Lim Changkyun. And I’m not a kid.”

“Alright, _Lim Changkyun_ , can you please, with reasonable justification, explain to me why the hell 3 o’clock in the fucking morning was when your brilliant freshman mind decided was the best possible time to make a meal? With what I’m assuming was an electric skillet? Which is completely against the rules, by the way.”

Kihyun watched as Changkyun let out a sigh and settled his blanket better around his shoulders. He was reminded again that he was without sleeves and shoes, but he narrowed his eyes at the freshman, demanding an answer.

“Look, I’m sorry the alarms woke you up. I was up late working on a paper and got hungry, so I started to make a grilled cheese. The skillet, which isn’t against the rules because I checked with Hyunwoo-hyung multiple times, wasn’t the issue.”

Kihyun didn’t believe him about the skillet being allowed, but made a mental note to check with Hoseok and the student handbook later. He crossed his arms and tilted up his chin in question.

“Okay. Go ahead and humor me, then. What was the issue that’s causing me to stand outside in the freezing cold and lose sleep the night before my psych midterm?”

Changkyun lifted a corner of his blanket that he had clutched in his hand. Was this kid seriously gesturing for Kihyun to join him in his blanket?

“You look pretty cold. I have space under this blanke-”

“I’m not about to snuggle up with the dumb freshman that almost burned down the building,” Kihyun snapped.

Changkyun winced and Kihyun felt a part of his anger diminish, looking at the guy. He hoped he didn’t show it too much.

“Look, uh, what’s your name?”

“Yoo Kihyun.”

“Okay, look, Kihyun,” he sighed.

Kihyun’s eyebrows scrunched together even further and he opened his mouth in protest. Changkyun raise his hands defensively.

“Kihyun-hyung. Look, I’m sleep deprived and skipped dinner to work on a huge paper. I finally got done and started making a grilled cheese so I could eat and edit the paper before crashing. And I, uh,” he looked down and began fidgeting with the seam of his blanket, “I forgot to take the plastic off of the cheese slice.”

Kihyun’s face became completely void of emotion. How stupid could this kid be?

“Oh. My god. Are you serious?”

“Well,” he began, “as you indicated, we _are_ outside because of a fire alarm.”

Kihyun ran a hand through his hair, taking in the ridiculousness of the circumstance that brought him out here.

“It started to smoke and I unplugged my skillet right away, so please stop rolling your eyes. It was a mistake and I’m sorry. The smoke just got out of hand.”

“Taking off the plastic is, like, the very first thing you do when you’re making a grilled cheese!”

Kihyun was exasperated. This was potentially worse than an Easy-Bake Oven mix-up on the list of People Being Idiots And Starting Fires. The alarms in the building shut off, but the ones in Kihyun’s head were still blaring loud and clear.

“Changkyun, do you realize how horribly wrong that could’ve gone? You didn’t take off the plastic _and_ you were using a contraband electric skillet! That’s, like, steps one and two of burning down the building, so if that’s your goal, next time keep the skillet plugged in. You might actually burn the place to the ground!”

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but Kihyun’s attention snapped to Minhyuk, who was suddenly at his side, tugging on his arm.

“Kihyun, come on,” he was almost whining. “They said we could go inside. You need the sleep and I need the warmth. Let’s go.”

“Go ahead, I’m coming,” he replied. Minhyuk seemed hesitant, his eyes shifting between Kihyun and Changkyun, but after a beat, he shrugged and began moving towards the doors. Kihyun turned to face Changkyun again, wrapped in his blanket and staring back at him with wide, remorseful eyes. Kihyun felt his anger subside and he sighed. He didn’t know if it was the hesitation he felt coming from Minhyuk, the way the kid looked so pathetic in his long blanket draped around him, or if Kihyun was simply too tired to argue anymore.

“Look, I know you’re a kid. You’re tired. You’re stressed. But be more careful next time. Find someone with an approved kitchen upstairs like me or stick to the microwave, okay?”

Changkyun nodded and quietly said, “I don’t know anyone with a kitchen, and we unfortunately don’t have a microwave.”

Kihyun blinked and wondered how a college student could be surviving without a microwave. Their meal plans weren’t extensive enough to provide three meals a day, and the cafeteria food wasn’t good enough that you’d want that kind of meal plan anyway.

“Okay, do you have other food for tonight? If you think that grilled might be salvageable, please throw your cancer sandwich directly into the nearest trash can.”

Kihyun had meant it to be more snarky than funny, but Changkyun chuckled and Kihyun’s can of whoop-ass was nudged a little deeper into the pantry.

“I won’t eat the sandwich, but, no, I don’t really have anything else. I’m getting groceries this weekend with with my roommate Jooheon, but until then…” he trailed off and shivered. “Uhm, Kihyun-hyun, it’s pretty cold out and we’re the only ones outside now. Can we maybe…?”

Kihyun didn’t realize how much either of them had been shaking. He nodded and began walking towards their building’s main entrance.

“So, what, you’re going to eat bread?”

“Preferably, no,” he said, calling the elevator, “I have some granola bars, so I’ll probably have two of those and then just get up early to go to breakfast and edit my paper. I still have to print it and all that anyway.”

As the elevator dinged, they stepped inside and Kihyun rubbed warmth into his arms as he contemplated what he was about to do. He sighed inwardly and hit the button for the fourth floor, then spoke to Changkyun. But, no, he would _not_ look at him. He was already pathetic enough, and Kihyun didn’t need the visual reminder. He had already noticed the bags under Changkyun’s eyes that he hadn’t made out when they were out in the dark. 

“Do you use Google Docs when you write your papers?”

“What? Yeah.”

“Great. Come up with me. You can use my laptop and get into your drive. Minhyuk has a printer.”

“Okay, but-”

Kihyun sighed again and turned to face him, breaking the rule he had just made for himself and facing the consequences of doing so. The poor kid just looked so tired. Kihyun was going to need an entirely new can of whoop-ass, because his had apparently passed the expiration date or was somehow otherwise defective. 

“Chankgyun, I’m going to make you food so you can edit your paper and have an actual meal before you collapse in the middle of campus from starvation.”

Changkyun blinked at him, and opened his mouth to say something (probably a horribly backed protest without any sound evidence, judging from the conflicted expression on his face), then snapped his jaw shut and nodded silently.

The elevator opened and Kihyun began walking down the hall without saying a word. He rationed that he had already said enough. They reached the end of the hall and Kihyun used his card to open the door, now thankful that he had grabbed his phone in his frenzy, as he kept his access card in the case. 

Once inside, Kihyun pointed to the futon, indicating for the freshman to get comfortable as he grabbed his laptop from his room and began turning it on as he walked back into the joint living room/kitchen area.

“The right shift key is a little finicky. It works; you just have to press a little harder. Go ahead and pull up what you need to.” Kihyun moved over to open his refrigerator. “Do you like chicken? Like chicken alfredo? It’s easy enough.”

When he heard nothing but silence, Kihyun turned around and raised an eyebrow at the kid. 

“You have a full sized fridge?”

Kihyun rolled his eyes. Changkyun really hadn’t ventured past the second floor if he was surprised by a fridge.

“Yeah, we have full ones in the apartment-style rooms. Chicken alfredo or no?”

“Sure, thanks.”

Kihyun nodded curtly and turned back to the fridge to pull out the chicken. He washed his hands and cut the breasts into smaller chunks, then washed his hands again to pull out a skillet and deposit the chicken onto the pan. He worked silently and efficiently, bringing water to a boil as he kept the chicken moving on the pan, adding water as it started sizzling a bit too much. He heard Changkyun occasionally tapping on his keyboard on the futon behind him, editing away. Kihyun began combining ingredients once the pasta and chicken were ready. 

He still couldn’t believe he was making chicken alfredo for a freshman that he met tonight after he had almost burned down their building, but at least cooking was an almost mindless activity for Kihyun. Finally, the recipe was complete and Kihyun moved it into a serving dish and got out a bowl for Changkyun.

“Alright, Changkyun, food’s do-”

He turned to the freshman and found him passed out on his futon. Kihyun shook his head and set the bowl on the counter. Part of him wanted to wake Changkyun, but the younger boy looked too peaceful for Kihyun to disturb his slumber. Kihyun wasn’t heartless, afterall.

He sighed and walked to where he slept on the futon and adjusted the blanket around him. Kihyun moved back to the kitchen and sealed his food to store for later. As Kihyun prepared to go back to bed himself, he noticed Changkyun shivering and he pulled one of his blankets off his bed to put on the freshman.

He scribbled a quick note to Changkyun and left the post-its on the coffee table in front of the sleeping boy, then crawled into his bed. When he woke up and entered the living room, rubbing his eyes, Changkyun was gone. Kihyun sauntered over to the coffee table and saw a note back from Changkyun.

**Thanks for the food and letting me crash.**  
**I know where to go now for food and fire prevention.**  
**-Kyun**

Kihyun shook his head and no, that was not a grin on his face. It couldn’t possibly be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The note Kihyun left for Changkyun was:  
> "There's a container of food for you in the fridge. Next time, just ask to use my kitchen. Or just burn down the whole building. Either way."
> 
> Okay, I hope you enjoyed this attempt ^^ I haven't really posted anything on this account before, so I hope this wasn't an Entire Shit Show.
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	2. post-it pile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I didn't expect this to be chaptered, but here we are guys, gals, and nonbinary pals.
> 
> There won't be more than this, but after 'contraband skillet' my buddy Jo (whom I love dearly and would bestow only good things and warm cheek kisses) gave me an idea and I had to run with it for both of our changki lovin asses. So! Here it is y'all.

Kihyun returned to his room and found a post-it note on the handle and rolled his eyes, but was grateful for the beanie that was (hopefully) sufficiently covering his pinkening ears. He entered their living space and slapped the paper onto the growing pile of other post-it notes. He wasn't collecting them. Nope. He just was too lazy to take them to his hall's recycling bin. Yup, that's what it was.

“Changkyun's coming over then?” Minhyuk asked, nodding towards the new note. Kihyun rolled his eyes at the recognition that Changkyun's visits and notes were frequent enough that Minhyuk seemed to expect them. Although, the fact that Kihyun occasionally left notes on Changkyun's door knob, and that he even knew where the freshman's room was located, was a secret he was proud he kept successfully.

“Yeah, we've got about 15 minutes until His Idiocy graces us with his presence,” Kihyun scoffed. “Jooheon's busy tonight and his meal plan is out.”

Kihyun moved the pile of his books and journals from the coffee table into his room, because having a clean living room is what you did for all guests. And if he changed his shirt and sprayed himself with a small splash of cologne it was because his wellness class required a fitness test today. Obviously.

Kihyun emerged from his room to find Minhyuk slightly more sprawled out on their futon, mindlessly staring at the television. How Minhyuk maintained his GPA would forever be a mystery to Kihyun, since he always seemed to be doing this mundane activity every time he was in their room. A bag of chips had somehow surfaced and Minhyuk's hand was digging into the depths of it. With a loud crinkle, Kihyun snatched the bag from his roommate and walked into the kitchen half of the room, exasperated that he had been eating junk food when he knew Kihyun would be cooking dinner. 

Before Minhyuk could protest, there was a knock at their door. His roommate threw Kihyun a sly smile, to which Kihyun raised an eyebrow. Kihyun had learned to not fully entertain any of Minhyuk's antics long ago, and turned to open their door, ignoring his dumb smirk. 

“Hey, Kihyun-hyung, did you get my note?” he asked and glanced to the small stack of yellow paper squares.

“Yes, and you really need to invest in a microwave for when your meal plan runs out. I thought you and Jooheon were saving for one?”

“We were,” Changkyun laughed nervously as he stepped into the room, “but then Jooheon insisted that we both needed new headsets to play Overwatch and he can be pretty convincing.”

“Overwatch? Tell me why I've never met this Jooheon kid.” Minhyuk had Overwatch radar, apparently.

Changkyun grinned back at him, “Maybe I'll bring him up next time.”

“Making meals for one freshman is enough of a charity project,” Kihyun snapped, but he had to cover up the slight leap in his chest at the mention of “next time” somehow.

Changkyun rolled his eyes and jabbed back, “Be sure to document your community service hours, hyung.” He sauntered past Kihyun and hoisted himself up onto the high top chair, now accustomed to making himself feel at home. 

Kihyun scowled and moved to the fridge to rummage through its contents. He and Minhyuk needed to go shopping soon, but he was able to produce everything for kimchi fried rice. He set to work as Changkyun and Minhyuk began rambling about Overwatch. 

Kihyun had more important things to worry about, like the big presentation coming up in his public speaking class. Talking to groups of people was Not His Favorite Activity, but it was a required course and he figured he'd been putting it off long enough.

He was internally reciting his second argument on the complications of protecting special populations in psychological studies when Changkyun leaned onto the counter beside him, effectively making Kihyun jump out of his skin. He cursed under his breath and snapped his head to glare at the freeloader.

He wasn't usually this jumpy, but he had clearly been focused enough that he didn't notice Changkyun creep up like a creature of the night.

“Shit, Changkyun. You almost burned down our residence hall, I've made you multiple meals since then, and you just effectively gave a heart attack. This friendship, or whatever the hell you claim to call it, is more parasitic than it is reciprocal.”

“Thank you for speaking in my language of biology,” he said in the snarky fashion unique to Changkyun. He'd displayed more of his sarcastic and witty personality in the meetings after their initial encounter and Kihyun didn't know how to deal with what he assumed to be an increase in Changkyun's comfort level around him.

“Blame yourself for your cardiac arrest. We've been trying to get your attention for a while now. I know you tune us out when you're in the zone or whatever, but calling you 'Cutie Chef Kihyunnie’ usually does the trick.”

Kihyun didn't have the energy to inform him, once again, that he was Not Cute. He didn't even scowl, which made Changkyun's features soften further with concern. A brief thought that he didn't need pity from a freshman passed through his mind, but then he realized that maybe he could use a little sympathy. He was stressed as fuck.

“I have a speech on Thursday that's a huge percentage of my grade. I keep messing up my verbal citations and the transitions between my arguments.”

“Do you want to practice? Just with Minhyuk and me?”

Kihyun blinked back at him, weighing the pros and cons of struggling through his speech in front of them both, but figured he'd be better off accepting the offer. After dinner, they moved to the lounge and Kihyun handed over his corresponding paper.

His roommate and friend (he begrudgingly supposed that he and Changkyun had passed the threshold of friendship at this point) got settled behind the table and looked up to him expectantly. Kihyun struggled through his speech twice, requiring some prompting both times, but figured he was better off now than he had been and decided to be merciful and call it quits. He still depended on his note cards enough that he knew his eye contact score would be docked, but he didn't want to force them through it a third time.

That night he highlighted what he thought he was most likely to forget and fought the urge to make the whole damn paper bright yellow. He had a near restless sleep and woke feeling like the embodiment of the undead. When he walked to the bathroom, he found that he looked like it, too. Great.

He showered and got dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a button down shirt in attempts to resemble an actual Successful Person so he might be able to secure some presentation points. He was too anxious to eat breakfast; what he really needed was a little chocolate or something to calm his nerves.

Kihyun gathered his things for class and pulled out his note cards. Thankfully, his speech was in his second of only two classes today, meaning he had a little more time to prepare, and when he was done he could come back to his room and lock himself in there to wither away into nothingness in a pile of blankets and self-pity.

He stepped into the hall and stopped himself from stepping on something clearly left in front of his door. He couldn't fight the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he stooped down to pick up the post-it note and the item attached.

**kit-kat for ki~**

Maybe the little shit wasn't as worthless as Kihyun once thought. Before his door shut, he quickly deposited the yellow paper square on his ever-growing pile and tore back the shiny orange and silver wrapper. He moved to the elevator and took a bite of the crunchy wafer of milk chocolate, entering a state of bliss as he allowed the chocolate to melt on his tongue, temporarily forgetting his impending doom.

Kihyun allowed himself to relax as much as possible for someone as high strung as he was, and tried to rehearse the verbal citations for his sources for the upteenth time already that morning during the entirety of his first class. When he entered his second classroom of the day to give his speech, he played with the kit-kat wrapper in his pocket, running his thumb on the smooth material. No, he didn't throw it away and don't ask him why because he wasn't sure himself.

He was the second to last student to present and when he took his place, his mind went completely blank, void of everything except those damn citations he had practiced repeatedly. Kihyun took in a sharp breath and pulled as much information as he could about psychological studies and the protection of special populations as he could from the depths of his asshole, praying that he could scrape together enough points for a passing grade.

Kihyun left the social sciences building feeling utterly defeated and didn't even bother holding his head up with any ounce of pride as he slowly walked to his residence hall, feeling like there were bags of sand tied to his ankles, weighing him down. He rode the elevator with Hoseok and, thankfully, his RA could read Kihyun's demeanor and internal wishes for a swift death or otherwise untraceable escape from campus, allowing them to ride upstairs in silence.

Kihyun reached his door and pulled the access card out of his phone case and heard noises in the kitchen. He hoped Minhyuk would be okay with preparing him something to eat, too, since he really wasn't in the mood. He just wanted something simple and warm to make him feel better.

He opened the door and was surprised to see not Minhyuk but Changkyun. And it wasn't the lack of energy that made him not protest.

“Minhyuk let me in, I hope that's okay. I just wanted to make you something for after your speech.”

Kihyun moved closer to where Changkyun stood and peered into the skillet to confirm his suspicions.

“Is that--?”

“Grilled cheese? Yeah,” he grinned, “but don't worry--I saved the plastic on the side for optional consumption.”

Kihyun’s body began shaking in uncontrollable laughter--the good kind that wracks through your body and comes out airy, more like you're struggling to breathe than anything else. He looked up to the freshman who looked confused, but pleased, his lips forming a quirky side-grin and suddenly Kihyun's lips were on his and they melted into each other like the cheese slice into the bread of the plastic-free grilled cheese.

They shared dinner with a movie playing in the background, but neither paid attention to it. Kihyun’s focus was on the kind freshman in front of him that he realized he had maybe judged a bit too harshly after their unfortunate first encounter. As it got later, Changkyun returned to his own room, and when Kihyun glanced to the pile of post-it notes on the counter, he knew what he needed to do.

The next morning, he wrote his message and walked down to the second floor. He stood frozen in front of Changkyun's door, just staring at the note in his hands for an unknown number of minutes. And then suddenly the door opened and he barely avoided a near collision with the freshman for whom the note was intended. Kihyun's heart raced as he watched his eyes travel to the note Kihyun was clutching for dear life and tilted his head to read what it said.

**...date me?**

Changkyun's head snapped back up and when he made eye contact with him, Kihyun felt his soul fold into itself and try to fit into a small corner of a dark room, but before it made that journey, it began to unfold again as Kihyun unfolded into Changkyun's soft lips suddenly connected to his own.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I have you here~ I have another changki oneshot in my head I plan on writing in the very near future, and I'm working on a total MONSTER of a chaptered changki fic with my pal Sae, so just 7.7 stay tuned, my dears!
> 
> Thanks for reading<3
> 
> If you like my writing and maybe have a recommendation or prompt, let me know! My twitter is @yookihyunnieX and I also have a Ko-fi account: ko-fi.com/yookihyunniex
> 
> Much love<3


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